The objective of this research project is to develop a compelling taxonomic structure for all personality descriptive terms in the English language, a structure that may then bear generalization to other languages and to other types of personological stimuli. In developing this taxonomy, we seek to demonstrate that, by the appropriate specification and control of method-specific sources of variance, we can find empirical structures in self and peer description that converge with those based solely on the similarity of meaning among the trait descriptive terms. The basic motivation for this research project is the need that exists in theoretical and applied research contexts for a means of describing individuals in terms of their characteristic traits, dispositions, or styles of behavior. Our ultimate goal is to discover as much as possible about the nature of the processes involved in the description of oneself and others, and of the role of language and culture in those processes.